PLEASE ONLY POST ON HERE IF YOU HAVE HAD AN ACTIVE PART IN JULIAN DAWSONS CAMPAIGN

In the city of Sellaville, at an Inn's best private room a group of adventures sit round the main table. Pipe smoke fills the as does the aroma of Roast pork, ale and wine. From the adjoining bedroom steps in Gorim the Dwarf. Pipe in mouth and a leather bound folder under his arm, he steps up to the table.

"My comrades. I apologise for not doing this sooner but i was recalled by my order and have only just returned, my thanks for your patience. I've called you here tonight to put our collective minds together to look at what we've found during our outings together."

From under his arm he takes the folder and opens it. The others clear a space for him as from the folder he produces parchments taken from the Alchemists of the East, and more recently from those of Sellaville.

"Take a good look! It starts with the letter for the Mercenaries we took from the retainers we first came across in the East. Some of the pages mean nothing to me, but I am no alchemist. As you will see Genkai the man we defeated in the Eastern realm had made plenty of progress on the potions once he got hold of script from Ishma and the Baronies. He was meant to meet with a Demetry Constella in Alguz, but we missed an opportunity to find him when we came to Sellaville. Still I belive if we can find someone who could play the part of Genkai then we might just locate this Demetry. “

He spreads out the parchments for all to see.

“I think if we could spread a rumour that this Genkai survived our attack and has been in hiding then we might be able to spring a trap and call out someone higher up the command chain than the people we have so far come across. Feel free to read everything and tell me your thoughts.”

A rather tall and large gentleman comes into the room. A katana sitting nicely at his side, his hands occupied by a china tea set.

'Hello gentlemen, I've arrived. I've kept a close eye on the happenings here. I'll be adventuring alongside you the next time you travel to investigate the problems. Would someone like to expand on what's been going on a little more so that I'm up to date?

He sits back comfortably, pouring his tea in a calm matter - slowly sipping it down along with the emperors favorite: 'Chocolate Hob-Nobs'

Mason says "I would also like to know how you come to be here, since we have been taking precautions about being overheard." whilst looking suspiciously at the stranger.

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I will give you some free advice, though.”“Will it cost me anything?”“What? I just said it was free!” said Miss Tick.“Yes, but my father said that free advice often turns out to be expensive,” said Tiffany.Miss Tick sniffed. “You could say this advice is priceless,” she said, “Are you listening?”“Yes,” said Tiffany.“Good. Now...if you trust in yourself...”“Yes?”“...and believe in your dreams...”“Yes?”“...and follow your star...” Miss Tick went on.“Yes?”“...you’ll still be beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren’t so lazy. Goodbye.”

The man slightly chuckles and giggles at the fact that he has startled mercenaries in such away, he slowly places down his tea, sits up and addresses the questions in a calm, yet slightly arrogant tone.

Ladies and Gentlemen, you do not need to worry. My name is Yomi Kodama Panama and I've been interested in these problems for a while now...I have dedicated my life to the art of tea and potions and anything that might stop my tea from being top quality scares me and must be dealt with.I've been slightly informed by one of your group to come here - Loric. He has vaguely told me about such happenings and said that you may need my help in the matter. Finally, I always have the emperors biscuits with me - it's a custom that I will never cease to hold.

He sits back in his chair once more, frowning at the increasing amount of smoke and the harm it might do to his chi.

"Hmmmmm" Gorim chuckled blowing a fresh cloud of Old Toady into the air. "Loric... I might have known he'd be part of it....resourceful. You could make my plan work. "He lowest his hammer. "come take a look at the documents we found, ask questions after. Oh and help yourself to some food"

"I'm Gorim, the young lady by you is molly, Loric you know when he shows up. The robed one is mason, you'll see Alessa soon enough." with that he sits and pours another tankard of beer for himself.

'Thank-you my friend for your custom.I shall help myself soon - but now, let's get down to business.Tell me what we have discovered apart from the notes you have here...And details of your plan would be quite nice.'

Mason, thinks to himself 'Loric should know when to keep his mouth shut, but hopefully with the oriental here, Gorim's plan could work's.

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I will give you some free advice, though.”“Will it cost me anything?”“What? I just said it was free!” said Miss Tick.“Yes, but my father said that free advice often turns out to be expensive,” said Tiffany.Miss Tick sniffed. “You could say this advice is priceless,” she said, “Are you listening?”“Yes,” said Tiffany.“Good. Now...if you trust in yourself...”“Yes?”“...and believe in your dreams...”“Yes?”“...and follow your star...” Miss Tick went on.“Yes?”“...you’ll still be beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren’t so lazy. Goodbye.”

the door opens slowly as the wet form of monty enter the taven.he moves to the bar and grabs a tankard. drinks from it and turn to the group. just would . like to say found a bloke called bob who might help so on my way now. whos the new bloke and whats he drinking ?.

Mason replies "He seems to be some one from the notable Panama Family, and seems to be drinking Tea."

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I will give you some free advice, though.”“Will it cost me anything?”“What? I just said it was free!” said Miss Tick.“Yes, but my father said that free advice often turns out to be expensive,” said Tiffany.Miss Tick sniffed. “You could say this advice is priceless,” she said, “Are you listening?”“Yes,” said Tiffany.“Good. Now...if you trust in yourself...”“Yes?”“...and believe in your dreams...”“Yes?”“...and follow your star...” Miss Tick went on.“Yes?”“...you’ll still be beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren’t so lazy. Goodbye.”

"Tea? Who can drink tea at a time like this? The whole world is going to... going to... Damned. We're all damned. Especially me." Molly mutters, taking another large swig from her tankard before choking on it.

"Who's this Bob? Monty? Explain! So many new faces? It's too risky. You really can't trust anyone any more."

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"That is not dead which can eternal lie and with strange aeons even death may die." - H.P Lovecraft

"Private is better... much better... Too many spies in here. You two go talk, I need to find my own answers. Need to try. Try to sleep. I mean it won't work, but I have to try right?" She mumbles, standing up unsteadily from her seat at the table. "Be back in a week. Maybe longer, not sure where I'm going yet. I just need help." She says, staring for a moment at the candles. "You should light some more candles. It's too dark in here." She adds, somewhat boldly before striding out of the room, without another word.

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"That is not dead which can eternal lie and with strange aeons even death may die." - H.P Lovecraft

Gorim raises an eyebrow at Molly’s exit. Still no sign of Loric he thinks.

“What’s with her? I know she’s a wizard, but she’s been acting weirder than usual.”

Taking a long draft on his beer, he places down his tankard and wipes his mouth.

“Right lets go through what we know. What we think we know and what we are guessing. Feel free to jump in with your comments.”

“We start at the beginning. A few of us here were hired to go to the Far East. I had been on a pilgrimage and thought no harm could come from helping. We had been hired by one Sosen Genkai the guy in charge of the area. They had been issues with the potion suppliers and bandits they called Ronin! As it turned out half the Ronin were used as test subjects for the poison they were cooking. We now know that they have that they have connections to Ishma and the Baronies. Not all the people we met turned into blood crazed monsters. Some had masks and these seem to retain their wits. Others were changed by their potions into muscle bound creatures that were as big as trolls.”

“A letter we found on the body of Genkai pointed to a new player ….. Demetry Constella! “

The priest pauses and relights his pipe

“Demetry Constella wrote to Genkai inviting him to Alguz, telling him to go to the Desiccated Husk and give the pass fraise and wait.”

“We were next hired by Simone Justain of the Council Mixers. They wanted us to help them with a supply problem (Alfar’s sealing crops) and to further our investigation in Sellaville. We once again found ourselves going deep under a warehouse district facing untold insane beasts, which were once human. We watched as men chose to drink potions and renounce their humanity to become hulking beasts of slaughter. Finally we found peons that had yet to be experimented on and G’nell Winterhaven a noble that said he was being looked after and nursed in the facility. We took measures to keep them safe until we could extract from the area. They were given into the care of the council of mixers to be checked before release.”

“A new player came into our sights that day. Reverend Mellington, we currently know nothing of him but that is sure to change soon.”

“Since then very disturbing news has come to our knowledge. G’nell Winterhaven is a carrier of the infection. I thought this might be the case when I heard what befell the Winterhaven estate. I believe it was due to his Noble blood that this change in the infection was engineered. My concerns were confirmed once I heard he had been sighted in Hellinbrook a village south of the river Moat. He had partaken of food and water from the inn and drunk from the well. The news reached me too late to help there and soon after the village fell to the infection, and chaos reigned.”

“We have now come across several types of creatures. “

• The standard blood zombie type• The cunning masked type that retains some sense• The grotesque brute monsters that can take a beating• Now the carrier that will turn others into the zombie like creatures

Now we have to make the choice, who to go after.

1. Demetry Constella, and use the pass fraise. Our Oriental comrade here would help there.2. G’nell Winterhaven, but I have reservation about chasing him and not the bast**ds that started this.3. Reverend Mellington. Find him, find out about him and stop him.4. Any other ideas?

*Loric with a knock on the door, steps into the room. His boots leaving small puddles on the hardwood floor as he throws his cloak across a chair.*

'Gentlemen, Molly.

Sorry for my late arrival, I have had some undertakings of faith that drew my attention for sometime. I met our friend here on the streets of Sellaville earlier when the discussion of this pollution occurring in his own lands came up in conversation.'

'Did you ever get hold of one of those masks? I missed the link to the Reverend too, how did he come to your attention in the first place?'

'Can't we do anything for those people? We can't let all those lives be lost. Is there any evidence of a cure for this infection? What about that crazed fellow we found? Perhaps he would know? I agree with you, we must look to the source, but the thought of leaving all those people there in that state. Which brings me to another matter.'

'There is a dark cloud that hangs over us, as a group. That is all I will say at this time, but have faith. It shall pass.'

Gorim steps up to loric and claps him on the shoulder (no mean feat for a dwarf)

"Good to have you back." He turns and indicates the paperwork on the table.

"The rev is mentioned in the wrightings of that simpleton in the lab....have a read. As for the masks...... No we never got one. The knights i adventured with let him go as he was unarmed. By all acounts, once away from us he rearmed and slaughtered inocent villagers. The knights that day felt that something had gone wrong. I honestly didn't know what they had been on about, but i'm no knight!"

*Mason pouring over the collected notes get a thoughtful look on his face-

"I will question the gods about this Rev Mellington, he seems to be some kind of friend to Gregory, the absent minded alchemist we met. I will also ask about this ingredient that seems to come from Ishma that Gregory is putting into the potions"

I will give you some free advice, though.”“Will it cost me anything?”“What? I just said it was free!” said Miss Tick.“Yes, but my father said that free advice often turns out to be expensive,” said Tiffany.Miss Tick sniffed. “You could say this advice is priceless,” she said, “Are you listening?”“Yes,” said Tiffany.“Good. Now...if you trust in yourself...”“Yes?”“...and believe in your dreams...”“Yes?”“...and follow your star...” Miss Tick went on.“Yes?”“...you’ll still be beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren’t so lazy. Goodbye.”